Padma Shri and Dr B C Roy National Awardee

New Delhi, 21 March 2019: With a large ageing population, growing middle-class and chronic nature of the disease, India is on the verge of a dry eye disease epidemic, says the study. The prevalence of dry eye disease will be in about 40% of the urban population by 2030. Since the disease tends to be progressive with age, once corneal damage becomes irreversible it can lead to visual impairment and even blindness. Early diagnosis and treatment is therefore important.

A study has found that the onset of dry eye disease is early in men than in women. In men, the age of disease onset is early 20s and 30s compared with 50s and 60s in women. Hormonal imbalance could be a likely reason for higher cases in women in their 50s and 60s.

Speaking about this, Padma Shri Awardee, Dr K K Aggarwal, President, HCFI, said, “Apart from the deterioration of eye health due to certain conditions, expanding areas of arid land, air pollution and greater exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation all present potential health hazards to the eyes. The cornea, eyelid, the sclera and even the lens—are all exposed directly to the environment. Rising temperatures and shifting atmospheric circulation patterns force dry air into regions. Drier air means that more people are likely to suffer from dry eye, a condition in which tears aren’t produced properly or evaporate too quickly. There is no evidence that drier conditions cause dry eye, but they can accelerate symptoms in people who are prone to dry eye. Air pollution has long been linked to respiratory disorders; more recently it’s been shown to play a role in eye disease.”

Recurrent infections over a lifetime lead to scarring inside of the eyelids, which in turn causes the eyelashes to turn inward and brush against the cornea, eventually resulting in damage that impairs vision.

Adding further, Dr Aggarwal, who is also the Group Editor-in-Chief of IJCP, said, “Eye exercises may not improve or preserve vision, help eye health, or reduce the need for glasses. Our vision depends factors such as the shape of our eyeball and the health of the eye tissues. Neither of these can be altered greatly by eye exercises.”

Using a computer does not affect eye health. However, staring at a computer screen all day can contribute to eyestrain or tired eyes. People who stare at a computer screen for long periods tend not to blink as often as usual, which can cause the eyes to feel dry and uncomfortable. To help prevent eyestrain, adjust the lighting so it doesn’t create a glare or harsh reflection on the screen, rest your eyes briefly every 20 minutes, and make a conscious effort to blink regularly so that your eyes stay well lubricated.

Throw water over your inner demons and bring colors to your life on this day

New Delhi, 20 March 2019: The Heart Care Foundation of India (HCFI) wishes all its readers a very happy and harm-free Holi. On this day, let us all pledge to remove any impurities in our mind, share happiness with others, and forget all our individual differences. We should also take a pledge to not harm anyone in the process of playing Holi and be safe while also respecting others.

The practice of burning Holi a day before the festival symbolizes burning all your negative thoughts or emotions embedded in the mind and neutralize all the poison arising due to the negative feelings. As soon as the negativity is removed from the mind there is opening of the spiritual vision or the knowledge of the consciousness. Once this is done, only the positive thoughts remain, which is celebrated as sharing and loving each other, the next day.

Speaking about this, Padma Shri Awardee, Dr KK Aggarwal, President, HCFI, said, “There are 5 obstacles to self-realization. Spreading love reduces anger as well as desires, detaches one from various attachments, reduces greed, and brings humility in a person. By burning one’s ego and other negative qualities, one also burns the ill feeling amongst each other and makes everybody a friend. During Holi, the practice therefore, is to visit and meet not only your friends but also those people to whom you are not friendly. The festival is an opportunity to spread brotherhood and happiness in the society. WHO defines health as not only the absence of disease but also a state of physical, mental, spiritual, social, and environmental wellbeing. Holi is thus a classic example or a custom to create ‘social health’ among people in the society. The habit of throwing water on each other also has a deep spiritual meaning – that of removing mental dirt leading to spiritual cleanliness.”

Adding further, Dr Aggarwal, who is also the Group Editor-in-Chief of IJCP, said, “The whole meaning is not to play Holi superficially or meet each other at a superficial level but to get rid of the negativity at the level of the mind as well. There is no point in celebrating Holi and meeting people unless you remove your negative thoughts about them from the mind. When you lovingly smear ‘gulal’ (coloured powder) on others, they reciprocate with doubled love and affection. Similarly, always think of good things about people. Express your positive thoughts about these friends loudly – not only in front of them but also in their absence. Don’t you think your heart will throb with pleasure when they reciprocate?”

Some tips for a safe Holi from HCFI

Use dental caps to protect teeth from staining.

Use sunglasses to keep eyes safe from the harmful chemicals of the colours.

Wear old and ragged clothes that may be discarded. Wear full-sleeved T-shirts or shirts and leggings that fully cover the legs. Wear socks. Brightly coloured and dark coloured clothes should be preferred. Use a hat, cap to protect the hair from being coloured with hard-to rinse dyes/colours.

Keep your eyes and lips tightly closed, when colour is being applied on you. Apply a thick layer of any oil on your body and hair till they glisten to make the skin slippery. This will help wash off colours easily later on.

While washing off the colour, use lukewarm water and keep eyes and lips tightly closed.

If you venture out on the streets, avoid mob frenzy. Do not bump into the frenzied group of mob if you take to streets. Cross the road to the sidewalk across. Or, simply stay at a safe distance.

Discourage children to play Holi with eggs, mud or gutter water. Avoid use of abir as it has flakes of mica.

Stop children from forcibly applying colour on a hesitant neighbor. Don’t walk alone on the streets on the day of Holi.

Use only natural colour and water. Keep a big bucket of clean water handy for your children, so that they do not resort to gutter water and other unclean sources.

The general elections are on the horizon. And, quite soon, campaigning will start at fever pitch. Let us try to understand the scientific aspects of campaigning and winning or losing an election.

Campaigning involves all modules of advertising. The success of a campaign is based on the principle of collective consciousness, which is the critical mass above which the intended message spreads rapidly.

It has been scientifically observed and proved that rumors spread like wild fire once the critical mass of 1% in the general population is achieved. This is the principle on which advertisements in newsprints and in electronic media work.

To put it in the context of elections, if 1% of your voters feel that you should win, it is quite possible that you will win.

This observation is based on the 100th-monkey phenomenon.

“In 1952, on the island of Koshima in Japan, scientists were providing monkeys with sweet potatoes dropped in the sand. The monkey liked the taste of the raw sweet potatoes, but they found the dirt unpleasant. An female monkey named Imo found she could solve the problem by washing the potatoes in a nearby stream. She taught this trick to her mother and her playmates. One monkey taught another to wash sweet potatoes who taught another who taught another and soon all the monkeys on the island were washing potatoes where no monkey had ever washed potatoes before. When the “hundredth” monkey learned to wash potatoes, suddenly and spontaneously and mysteriously monkeys on other islands, with no physical contact with the potato-washing cult, started washing potatoes. The critical mass in that area therefore was 100.”

This is the principle used by the politicians in their election campaign. They ensure that the critical mass is achieved. For example, in a gathering of 1000 people, at least 10 of their own people would be sitting in the meeting as audience. These 10 people will clap at appropriate times during the meeting and then the remaining 990 members of the audience will also follow suit and clap. For a gathering of 2000, the critical mass is 20 people and for 10,000, it is 100 people.

Rumors are also used as one of the main weapon in political campaigning. You can plant your people in your opponent’s political meetings and start spreading rumors or falsehoods. This also works on the same principle of 1% or critical mass.

The mind is not able to recall what it has seen or heard for less than 10 seconds. Hence, when you want to pass on a message to the audience, it has to be flashed for at least 10 seconds. During campaigning, candidates gloss over what they do not want the voters to recollect and speak at length on issues that they want them to remember.

The other aspect of campaigning is what happens if you lose or win an election.

If you lose, you are likely to go into depression for 3 months but one has to even present this loss positively. Politicians never contest elections only to win and even a lost candidate has a lot to gain in the long run.

But, many physical and biochemical changes are seen in the person who wins. A victory boosts the levels of serotonin in the blood. The person starts performing better, sleeps less during the night and produces results which he may have never produced in the past.

This can be explained scientifically.

Normally, serotonin and melatonin levels work in harmony, despite their opposite effects. . Serotonin increases in the daytime and melatonin at the nighttime. While serotonin causes aggression, aggressiveness and produces vigor, melatonin is responsible for the sleep and resting state of the body. But, the sense of power a victory brings alters the chemistry in the blood and in the brain. The levels of serotonin levels are higher in such a state.

Delivering a speech before a gathering of large number of people is not the same as that given in a TV studio. The speech becomes aggressive and often impressive as the public cheers.

Then, the tone of campaigning may vary from positive to negative.

A positive campaign projects your vision and how you plan to execute it. A negative campaign, on the other hand, highlights the deficiencies of your opponents.

People who have a negative approach may ultimately develop high blood pressure, diabetes, acidity or suffer from heart attack, paralysis and cancer. Negative emotions produce negative chemistry, responsible for deposition of fat in various arteries and causation of cancer.

In the long run, a person with positive approach will always win.

Dr KK Aggarwal

Padma Shri Awardee

President Elect Confederation of Medical Associations in Asia and Oceania (CMAAO)